System of Indicators to Monitor the Progress of the Education Sector in Disaster Risk Management

In the last decade, the relationship between education and disaster risk management has been recognized in various national, regional and global political and technical arenas. Various considerations, goals and commitments directly connected to the education sector have been defined in the area of disaster risk reduction, some of which directly involve Ministries of Education of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Regional Sectoral Education Group for Disaster Risk Reduction and Education in Emergencies in Latin America and the Caribbean is addressing this challenge. A working group comprising regional representatives of the United Nations system, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donors and humanitarian agencies engaged in education are promoting an initiative for an analysis of disaster risk reduction in the education sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The objective of this initiative was to develop an analytical methodology to provide quantitative and qualitative information on the institutional framework and performance of the education sector in disaster risk management in countries in the region. It included the creation of a system of indicators that takes into account existing disaster risk management initiatives and instruments in the education sector, including the Guidance on Measuring the Implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action/Indicators of Progress; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) instrument for disaster risk reduction and risk management; and the Index of Governance and Public Policy in Disaster Risk Management, also prepared by the IDB.

The proposed system of indicators was piloted in Ecuador and Guatemala in August and September 2015 respectively. The results and lessons learned from the pilot influenced the final version of the system of indicators, the respective criteria and suggestions for future implementation in other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The present document presents the conceptual framework used to design the system of indicators, the validation in the revision and pilot process, the implementation protocol, details of the proposed criteria and recommendations and suggestions for the creation of a system of indicators for periodic evaluations.